World’s busiest flight route is a domestic one – Seoul Gimpo to Jeju International, South Korea. About 76,460 flights travelled between these two airports in 2018, as compared to merely 14,000 flights between London Heathrow and New York’s JFK in the same year. The seven airlines on this route are Asiana Airlines, Jeju Airlines, Korean Air, Jin Air, T’way Air, Eastar Jet and Air Busan.
The 15 busiest air routes are all domestic services. Second busiest air route is the Melbourne-Sydney, Australia, with 54,102 departures. The air route between Mumbai-Delhi, India, secures the third position with 45,188 departures.
The other seven busiest routes are Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro (39,747); Fukuoka-Tokyo (39,406); Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City (39,291); Sapporo-Tokyo (39,271); Jakarta-Surabaya (37,762); Los Angeles-San Francisco (35,365) and Jeddah-Riyadh (35,149).
The busiest international route is Kuala Lumpur-Singapore, with 30,187 departures in 2018. Eight carriers run the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route: AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, SilkAir, Jetstar Asia, Malindo Airways, Scoot, Singapore Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines.
Hong Kong-Taipei route with 28,447 departures stood at the second position. The other eight busiest international air routes are Jakarta-Singapore (27,046); Hong Kong-Shanghai (20,678); Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur (19,741); Seoul-Osaka (19,711); New York La Guardia-Toronto (17,038); Hong Kong-Seoul Incheon (15,770); Bangkok-Singapore (14,698); and Dubai-Kuwait (14,581).
The busiest airport on the planet is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International since 1998 – 20 years in a row. Almost 107.4 million passengers passed through its terminals in 2018. That’s slightly more than the population of the Philippines.
Europe’s busiest service is Barcelona-Madrid, with 18,812 flights in 2018; Latin America’s is Lima-Santiago (10,369).
